Assembly bypolls: Counting of votes on seven seats in six states on Sunday

NEW DELHI: Counting of votes will be held on Sunday in the by-election to seven assembly constituencies in six states — a contest symbolic of the fierce turf war between the BJP and regional parties.
The polling was held in Mokama and Gopalganj assembly constituencies of Bihar, Andheri (East) of Maharashtra, Adampur of Haryana, Munugode of Telangana, Gola Gokarannath of Uttar Pradesh, and Dhamnagar of Odisha on November 3.
Among the seven seats where bypolls are being held, the BJP held three seats, the Congress two while the Shiv Sena and the RJD had one each.
Here's all you need to know:
Andheri (East), Maharashtra
Shiv Sena's Rutuja Latke is expected to comfortably win the Andheri East assembly constituency in Mumbai after the BJP withdrew from the contest which is the first after the recent split in the Shiv Sena following a rebellion by Eknath Shinde, who replaced Uddhav Thackeray as the Maharashtra chief minister.
The NCP and Congress have supported her candidature. The BMC is the country's richest civic body, and all parties will be eager to control it.
Adampur, Haryana
In Adampur, the by-election was necessitated after former chief minister Bhajan Lal's younger son Kuldeep Bishnoi resigned as MLA from the seat and switched from the Congress to the BJP in August. Bishnoi's son Bhavya is now contesting as the BJP candidate.
The Adampur seat has been held by the Bhajan Lal family since 1968, with the late ex-chief minister representing it on nine occasions, his wife Jasma Devi once, and Kuldeep on four occasions.
The Congress fielded Jai Prakash, who is close to former CM Bhupinder Hooda, reviving the decades-old battle between Bhajan Lal and Hooda families.
Munugode, Telangana
The bypoll here was necessitated after Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy quit the Congress and also as MLA in August, and joined the BJP.
The seat saw a three-way contest between Congress, BJP and KCR's TRS. But it was the BJP and TRS that went all out during campaigning for the by-elections.
The bypoll results come in the backdrop of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao spelling out his national ambitions for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP has its eyes on the state polls due in 2023, and is seeking to make inroads in the state, where it won a solitary seat in 2018 elections.
Mokama and Gopalganj, Bihar
In Bihar, this is the first major polls after the political "realignment" that saw JD(U) parting ways with the BJP and joining hands with RJD, Congress and some other parties to form a Grand Alliance government.
RJD's Anant Singh had to vacate the seat after his conviction in a criminal case, and is now in jail. The Grand Alliance has fielded his wife this time. The Gopalganj seat fell vacant due to the death of its BJP MLA Subhash Singh. His widow is the BJP candidate this time.
Gola Gokarannath, Uttar Pradesh
The BJP is seeking to retain the Gola Gokarannath seat in Uttar Pradesh and Dhamnagar in the BJD-ruled Odisha, banking on sympathy votes as it has fielded the sons of sitting MLAs whose death necessitated the bypolls.
The Gola Gokarannath seat fell vacant after the death of BJP MLA Arvind Giri on September 6.
With the BSP and the Congress keeping away from the bypolls, it was a direct fight between the BJP's Aman Giri and the SP candidate - former Gola MLA Vinay Tiwari.
Dhamnagar, Odisha
The BJD fielded Abanti Das, the lone woman among the total five candidates in Dhamnagar.
BJP MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi's death necessitated the by-election.
The saffron party fielded Sethi's son Suryabanshi Suraj.
The results can be a reality check.
The ruling BJD seemed to have lost steam with its below-par performance in the 2019 Odisha assembly elections but in the panchayat polls, earlier this year, it decimated the opposition.
The BJP, which won eight of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha in 2019, seems to have recalibrated its strategy to regain the ground it has lost over the last three years.
(With agency inputs)